Servais: Robinson Cano’s suspension a ‘bit of a gut punch’

It’s been a busy week for Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais. A no-hitter from James Paxton on May 8 was a high but following it were games that saw freak injuries for All-Star designated hitter Nelson Cruz and Gold Glove-winning second baseman Robinson Cano (both players were hit by a pitch, resulting in a foot contusion for Cruz and a broken hand for Cano). Overshadowing all of it was the news Tuesday that Cano has been issued an 80-day suspension – a result of violating the league’s drug policy.

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“There’s no preparation for something like that,” Servais told 710 ESPN Seattle’s Brock Huard and Mike Salk Thursday morning. “We obviously didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t know anything about it until early Monday morning. In this situation, thankfully for us, our lineup and our roster is deep enough, I believe, to absorb it…

“Robbie called me probably about 30 minutes to an hour before the story hit the national wire. I talked to (him) for about ten minutes. (He was) very apologetic and very sorry for the position he put our ball club in. On top of that, he also felt very badly that – he went ahead and had the surgery on his hand yesterday – and not being in Seattle when all this went down really really bothered him.

“When things like that happen, it’s a little bit of a gut punch. But we’ve absorbed a few of those in the past and we will this one. I think we have a very talented team, we’re going to have to get everybody to continue just to do their job.”

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